"Here at home we're proud to see our Irish whiskey sales growing due to a combination of increased tourism and also a growth in the cocktail market," Mr Coutures said.

"Ireland's emerging appreciation for cocktails is seeing our products mixed creatively by Ireland's bartenders to serve up something new and different for consumers and we applaud this," he said.

Irish Distillers employs around 600 people in Ireland across its bases in Cork and Dublin.

Despite the strong growth of the firm's brands, Mr Coutures said the home market is still proving problematic due to the economic climate here.

"Ireland has the third highest excise rates on spirits in Europe. It is damaging to our reputation that an American tourist can buy a bottle of Jameson in the US for almost half the price of the same bottle in Ireland, the home of Irish whiskey," he said.

The firm's tourism business improved by 4pc last year with 421,000 visits to its centres.

During the year Irish Distillers lost its chief executive, Anna Malmhake, who moved on to head up the Absolut vodka company.

Mr Coutures succeeded Ms Malmhake in February where he moved from his role as chief executive of Pernod Ricard's Winemakers.